March 27, 2012

Top 8 Best European Stock Mutual Funds 2012

Investing European market is essential for investor portfolio diversification. Using Europe stock mutual funds, investors can achieve their investment goal over the long run. Some of the best Europe stock mutual funds are: Henderson European Focus A, Eastern European Equity A, Royce European Smaller Companies Service, etc.

Top Europe Stock Mutual Funds
Intro

European Union has 27 member states and 23 official languages. This union represents about 20% of global GDP. Major European markets include Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Netherland, Switzerland, etc. The Eurozone also has an official currency which is known as Euro. This Euro currency is used by 17 of the 27 member states of European Union.

For investment, investors can choose either investing in individual country bond or stocks from this European region. Using mutual funds, you can expect to achieve instant diversification and reduce your investment risk. You can invest in either Europe bond mutual funds or Europe stock mutual funds. This article will focus on European equity mutual funds.

Best Europe Stock Funds

These best European stock mutual funds are rated based on its long term performance. You will find fund review including fund expense ratio, management, yield, top holdings, performance, rating or rank, top sector, etc.

Top 8 Best European Stock Mutual Funds of 2012 are:
  1. Henderson European Focus A (HFEAX)
  2. Eastern European Equity A (VEEEX)
  3. Royce European Smaller Companies Service (RISCX)
  4. Columbia European Equity A (AXEAX)
  5. Mutual European A (TEMIX)
  6. ING Russia A (LETRX)
  7. Invesco European Growth A (AEDAX)
  8. Invesco European Small Company A (ESMAX)
updated on 3/26/2012

1. Henderson European Focus A (HFEAX)

The Henderson European Focus fund objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in European companies equities. The fund has no limits on the geographic asset distribution within Europe region. It may invest small part of net assets (<15%) in illiquid securities. It may engage in frequent and active trading. It is considered as a non-diversified mutual fund.

Henderson European Focus
This top performer European Stock mutual fund is rated with 5-stars rating by Morningstar. It has 12-month dividend yield of 4.58%. The most recent dividend was distributed in December 2011 ($1.22). The YTD return of this fund is 23.44%.

The current lead manager of this fund is Stephen Peak. He started managing this mutual fund since its inception in August 2001. The minimum initial investment for either brokerage or retirement is $500. The annual expense ratio of this fund is 1.54%. The 3-year annualized return of this fund is 31.87%.

The top holdings of this best fund as of January 2012 are BP (6.2%), African Minerals (4.7%), European Goldfields (4.2%), Zhaikmunai (3.9%) and TUI (3.5%). The top sector allocation as per December 2011 is Energy (23.6%), Materials (23.5%) and Consumer Discretionary (18.7%).

2. Eastern European Equity A (VEEEX)

The investment objective of Eastern European Equity fund is to provide capital appreciation. This Europe stock mutual fund invests in equity securities, such as common stocks and convertible securities. It utilizes its assets to purchase equity securities of companies located in Eastern Europe. This World Funds fund invests in business activities of >3 different Eastern European countries.

Pascal Curtet is the current lead manager of this stock fund. This best fund was first introduced to public in February 1996. Morningstar has rated this fund with 4-stars rating. The annual expense ratio is 2.84%. This figure is higher compared to the average in the Europe Stock category (1.61%). As part of load fund, it also has a maximum sales charge of 5.75%.

Best International Large Cap Stock Mutual Funds 2012

Based on the load-adjusted returns, this fund has returned 14.91% over the past 10-year. This stock fund can be bought from 75 brokerages.

The top sectors allocations as of December 2011 are Energy (25.15%), Financials (20.74%), Utilities (10.63%) and Basic Materials (10.26%). The top holdings are Gazprom OAO Spon ADR (9.50%), Rosneft Oil Co OAO GDR REGS (8.52%), Serverstal (4.41%), Lukoil Holdings Spon ADR (4.78%) and Turkiye Garanti Bankasi (3.96%).

3. Royce European Smaller Companies Service (RISCX)

Royce European Smaller Companies
The Royce European Smaller Companies mutual fund utilizes its assets to purchase equity securities of European companies with market capitalizations of < $5 billion. It may invest small part of assets in companies stocks of developing countries.

The total net assets of this European stock mutual fund are $17.54 million. It has annual expense ratio of 1.69%. The management fee is 0.25%. There is no sales charge. The 5-year annualized return of this fund is 26.86%. Investors of this investment fund have just received their dividend payment in December 2011 ($0.10). The total net assets of this fund are $17.54 million.

The top 5 stocks in its holdings as of January 2012 are Semperit AG Holgind (3.2%), Mayr-Melnhof Karton (3.1%), Jupiter Fund Management (3.0%), Carl Zeiss Meditec (2.9%) and Ashmore Group (2.8%). The fund benchmarks are Russell Europe Small Cap and MSCI Europe Small Core.

4. Columbia European Equity A (AXEAX)

The Columbia European Equity fund is seeking to provide capital appreciation. This Columbia fund mainly invests in equity securities of European companies with growth potential. This stock fund also may invest in companies located in developing or emerging markets. It typically has exposure to foreign currencies.

Columbia European Equity
The YTD return of this fund is 11.69%. It has dividend yield of 0.24%. The annual holdings turnover of this fund as of March 7, 2012 is 121.00%. The fund is currently managed by Don Ison. It has annual expense ratio of 1.51%. The 12b1 fee is 0.25%. The fund has 5-year annualized return of 17.07%.

The minimal initial investment of this European equity mutual fund is $2.000. It can be purchased from 73 brokerages. The other classes of this fund are Class C (REECX) and Class Z (CEEZX).

As of January 2012, the top 3 stocks are Nestle SA-Reg, BG Group PLC, and Ing Groep NV-CVA. The top sectors as of December 2011 are Industrials (16.1%), Health Care (15.0%), Consumer Staples (13.4%), Financials (13.3%) and Energy (13.0%).

5. Mutual European A (TEMIX)

The Mutual European fund invests majority of net assets (>80%) in undervalued securities of European companies. It invests in stocks from more than 4 different countries, although it may invest in a single country. The fund also may invest <20% of its total assets in equities of U.S. issuers, Levant, the Middle East and the remaining regions of the world.

The total net assets of this international stock mutual fund are $1.73 billion. Morningstar analysts have ranked this stock fund with Gold rating. It also has 4-stars rating based on its past performance. This top performer mutual fund also has a 12-month dividend yield of 3.61%.

The fund is managed by Philippe Brugere-Trelat since 2004. This Franklin Templeton mutual fund has annual expense ratio of 1.41%. There are 119 brokerages that offer this fund for investor. Since its inception, the fund has experienced 11 years of positive return. The 3-year beta is 0.66.

Top Performer International Stock Mutual Funds of 2011

The top geographic as of January 2012 are United Kingdom (27.89%), France (18.10%), Germany (14.42%) and Switzerland (10.02%). The top industry breakdown is Materials (10.73%), Food, Beverage & Tobacco (7.48%), Energy (7.30%), Insurance (6.95%) and Telecommunication Services (6.31%).

6. ING Russia A (LETRX)

ING Russia A
This ING Russia fund investment objective is to achieve long-term capital appreciation. This mutual fund invests >80% of net assets in equity securities of Russian companies. It may invest debt securities issued by Russian companies and by the Russian government based on its investment quality or maturity. It may also invest in companies located in the former Soviet Union countries. This fund is non-diversified mutual fund.

This stock fund was first introduced to public in July 1996. The fund has 3-year annualized return of 42.55%. Morningstar has rated this fund with 3-star rating. Remco Vergeer has managed this fund since April 2011. The annual expense ratio of this fund is quite high (2.03%). The maximum sales charge of this fund is 5.75%.

The minimum initial purchase to open a brokerage account of this fund is $1.000. The top sectors as of January 2012 are Energy (42.11%), Financials (18.37%) and Materials (15.01%).

7. Invesco European Growth A (AEDAX)

This Invesco European Growth fund is rated with silver rating by Morningstar analyst. It also has a dividend yield of 3.03%. The annual holding turnover rate is 21%. This AEDAX fund is open to new investor. The total net assets are $822 million.

8. Invesco European Small Company A (ESMAX)

The Invesco European Small Company mutual fund invests most of assets in securities of small European issuers that have a market capitalization similar to Russell 2000 Index. This Europe stock fund has returned 24.46% over the past 3 years, 15.55% over the past decade. It is rated with 4 stars rating by Morningstar.

Disclosure: No Position

Other Fund Reviews:
Fund Performance
NoNameTicker1 Year Return %3 Year Return %5 Year Return %10 Year Return %Expense Ratio
1Henderson European Focus AHFEAX-13.33%31.55%1.64%15.09%1.54%
2Eastern European Equity AVEEEX-23.04%23.54%0.10%14.38%2.87%
3Royce European Smaller Companies SvcRISCX-12.64%26.86%-0.15%-1.79%
4Columbia European Equity AAXEAX-8.45%17.07%-0.19%6.17%1.51%
5Mutual European ATEMIX-8.55%9.53%-0.82%7.89%1.40%
6ING Russia ALETRX-19.79%42.55%-1.69%18.35%2.12%
7Invesco European Growth AAEDAX-2.05%18.34%-1.85%9.94%1.51%
8Invesco European Small Company AESMAX-7.19%22.89%-2.89%15.79%1.71%
9Fidelity NordicFNORX-15.72%20.63%-3.54%8.17%1.05%
10Morgan Stanley European Equity AEUGAX-9.38%12.55%-3.79%3.94%1.51%

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